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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



Our Homes. 



Therefore shall a man leave his father and his 

 mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they 

 shall be one flesh.— Gen. 2:34. 



^?In our issue for Sept. 15 I used for a text to 

 head Our Homes the same one I am using to- 

 day; but in that talk the line of my remarks 

 was confined almost entirely to married people 

 and those who are more or less advanced in 

 life. I exhorted the husband and wife, as you 

 may remember, to be kind and gentle to one 

 another; to be careful during that period when 

 the children are grown up and gone away, 

 when Satan might get in and disturb that 

 sacred relation that should always exist between 

 husband and wife. 



I am now going to talk a little to those 

 who are yet unmarried— not necessarily to the 

 young people, for there are many people of 

 middle age, some others who are well along in 

 life, who are not united in marriage. Many 

 people live and die without being married at 

 all. I suppose there are, of course, circum- 

 stances wherein it is best not to marry; in fact, 

 the apostle Paul discusses this matter, as you 

 may remember. My convictions are, however, 

 after having lived more than half a century, 

 and after having made many warm and inti- 

 mate friendships, both with men and women 

 throughout our land, that men and women 

 should live together. Not only should there be 

 boys and girls in our schools, and both boys 

 and girls in the classes, and men and women in 

 our churches, in nearly all kinds of business, 

 but, more than all this, men and women should 

 be united and in partnership in the home. 



Every reader of Gleanings— in fact, almost 

 every person nowadays— is taking more or less 

 interest in the progress and improvement of 

 the human race; and I feel sure that the 

 foundation of every permanent and solid im- 

 provement in moral and spiritual matters de- 

 pends upon having men and women side by 

 side and In close companionship. As a rule I 

 would urge people to get married somewhere 

 between the ages of twenty and twenty-five. 

 There may be circumstances when it is best to 

 wait until they are thirty years old, but I think 

 they are rare. T. B. Terry said in one of his 

 recent articles that he would advise young 

 people to get married when they are twenty 

 years old, or a little more, because at about 

 that age both men and women begin to be set- 

 tled in their convictions and opinions; nnd it is 

 a harder matter for them to change after that 

 time; and he believed (and since he has sug- 

 gested it I believe he is right) that the husband 

 and wife should begin to bend their opinions 

 and peculiar characteristics, each one toward 

 the other, so as to agree with each other, before 

 they are very far along in life. I think I have 

 seen couples who had more or less disagreement 

 through many years of married life just be- 

 cause they did not get married and become inti- 

 mately acquainted with each other when they 

 were young. Every little while the boys and 

 girls in our establishment are getting married. 

 I am always glad to know it. The boy who 

 gives a good deal of promise while he is young 

 is pretty sure to fulfill that promise if he gets 

 married while he is young. It adds stability to 

 his character. 



Now please excuse me, dear friends, for say- 

 ing something that many of you may think is 

 not just the thing to say on a printed page; but 

 I do like to see some children coming into 

 the new home in due course of time — say in 

 three or four years. It seems to supplement 

 and finish the work that has been well started. 



The husband and wife, from the very time in 

 which they become father and mother, begin 

 to be interested in our schools and in matters 

 of education. They begin to read, and to at- 

 tend to things they never paid much attention to 

 before. They begin to be useful and valuable 

 members of society. Please do not misunder- 

 stand me here. I do not mean that the young 

 father or mother should be overburdened speed- 

 ily with a larger family than they can well 

 care for. You may tell me that these things 

 can not be always managed, or at least be 

 managed in a way that a Christian man and 

 woman with the fear of God in their hearts 

 would want to manage. I tell you you are 

 wrong. Read the text of my last Home Paper, 

 Oct. 15, page 759, and -you will have your an- 

 swer. 



I have just had the pleasure of a visit of two 

 or three days with our good friend O. O. Popple- 

 ton, of Potsdam, Dade Co., Fla. Friend P. and 

 I are nearly of an age, and I think we pretty 

 nearly agree in most matters pertaining to the 

 morals and well-being of humanity. We both 

 have children of our own. Friend P. has had a 

 rather wider experience than my own, for he 

 has spent two years on the island of Cuba, as 

 you may remember. Well, in Florida — at least 

 in many parts of it — there are more men than 

 women. This is the case in California and 

 many other new countries. Under such cir- 

 cumstances there are a good many unmarried 

 men, and but very few unmarried women. As 

 a matter of necessity, almost, the girls are en- 

 gaged while they are still in school, and often 

 they are married while they ought still to be 

 schoolgirls. Not only are the younger ones 

 soon married off, but there are almost no young 

 or middle-aged women in California who are 

 unmarried. Somebody is sure to want them; 

 and I have a sort of opinion of my own that 

 this "somebody" very oft^n thanks God for 

 them. Do you smile? My friend, if you have 

 never thanked God for the wife he has given 

 you, I wish you would commence right this 

 minute doing so. After you have thanked the 

 great Giver of all good, you may, if you chose, 

 tell the good wife what you have done. You 

 may tell her that her old friend A. I. Root has 

 said it was the thing to do. 



Well, down in Florida and out in California, 

 after the schoolgirls are all married— some of 

 them when only fifteen or sixteen years old — 

 and after the middle-aged and elderly women 

 are married, there are still unmarried men keep- 

 ing bachelor ranches. There are not women 

 enough to go around. What are they to do? 

 The question has been soberly asked me a good 

 many times. With the ample and rapid means 

 of communication we now have between all 

 parts of the world, one can order almost every 

 thing he wants. If apples are five cents a bush- 

 el in one market, and a dollar in another, our 

 railways will quickly equalize the bad state of 

 affairs on both sides. Can our railways remedy 

 the unequal distribution of men and women? 

 To be sure, they can. Now, do not be troubled, 

 dear friends of the gentler sex. I am not going 

 to advise you to go, either singly or bv the car- 

 load, where you are most' needed. You would 

 not take such advice, even if I should give it — 

 at least, I hope you would not. What, then, 

 shall be done? Why, these single men who 

 need wives must go and fetch you. If they 

 want you very bad they certainly can take the 

 trouble to go after you in a gentlemanly and 

 honorable way. Almost all of these people in 

 Florida and California and elsewhere have 

 friends back in the older and more densely set- 

 tled parts of our country. Let these young and 

 middle-aged men take a trip home. Go and 



